beach memories
by Axletia Rosonetis
Summary: Even the coldest of sisters can have a good time. Oneshot.


_beach memories_

Sayo kept her head leaned her head between the seat cushion and the window, watching the bright, sunny view through her sunglasses. She was in a comfortable lull but did not nap entirely, since leaning on her shoulder, snoozing, was her younger twin sister, Hina. There were a lot of things she didn't like admitting, and one of them included her being pretty protective over Hina. She was pretty sure everyone knew, including Yukina, but that wouldn't stop her from being tight-lipped regardless.

She lightly squeezed one of her sister's braids and shut her eyes. They were almost at the end of a two-hour journey to the beach, and she could already feel her skin burning. All the fashion magazines she skimmed through said that beaches were a big no-no, unless they were there for a photoshoot. And even then most of the models who had photoshoots at the beach were actually photoshopped into beach backgrounds. It wasn't much of a problem for Sayo when she was younger…but now she was in Roselia, and she had to maintain her image.

So, if she had to maintain her image by wearing an oversized sunhat and one of her sister's oversized flannels, so be it. Yukina would chastise her if she ever caught her looking like this on the sidewalk, though. Her braid flapped back and forth with the bus's open windows, and she actually felt like she was in one of those anime movies. An anime. Who was she, a Pastel Palettes member?

Half-asleep, she grunted and furrowed her eyebrows, crossing her arms. Next to her she could hear Hina lightly snoring. What a sight.

Her head bumped into the seat in front of her twenty minutes later as the bus came to a slow halt. She spent a minute glaring at the seat as Hina loudly yawned and stretched as far as her arms would go, before wrapping them around Sayo's neck. "Sis! We're finally here!" she cried, smiling. "How long has it been since we've last been here?"

Sayo walked forward, dragging Hina along the way. Another thing she hated to admit was their sister time every other weekend. Between their bands, clubs, and time with friends, there was little time to hang out with each other. She stuck her nose up in the air, as usual. "Couple of years. We didn't do much together our first year of high school. Why would you pick the beach this time? We're not kids anymore, Hina."

She could imagine Hina's exact expression, the way her eyes bulged and her expression contorting into an angry surprise, and bit back her tongue. Sometimes it was fun to deliberately bait her sister. "Whaat?! Come on, Sayo, Mom and Pop always took us out here every year! You always like to hate on everything we used to love!"

"Well, we're both growing up."

"Well, you're not saying anything about me hanging onto you."

"Because you're dead weight and it'd take longer for us to get anywhere if I said no."

"Oh, come oooon~"

Sayo pulled her smile into a grimace, gently patting Hina's hands. It was nice to imagine them as a pair of normal twins on a teenage beach day. Silently pulling out her phone, she snapped a couple of pictures of the ocean as she felt the cool sand under her feet. Behind her Hina squeezed her neck tighter, whining in her ear. "Sayoooo. Why do you always have to be like this? Remember all the good times we had together? All the dogs we got to pet?"

She dropped her sister face-down in the sand, burying her face in her hands. There it was, the key word. There were only two things that they publicly had in common - gummies and dogs. The tables had turned. Hina propped herself on her elbows and smirked, wiggling her feet, and Sayo couldn't help but match her smirk. "We both loved the biggest dogs. Remember that one time with the old couple and the drooling sheepdog? He was disgusting."

"Yeaaaah. He was your favorite."

"What? No. Well, okay, maybe. And yours were that pair of pomeranians that one morning."

Hina looked up at her, eyes widening. "I didn't realize you'd remember such a small detail."

"The oldest has to remember everything. Now pony up those snacks."

Sayo crouched down and took a bag of sour gummies from Hina's bag. There were no dogs on the beach at the moment, but they stood in place there for a while, watching the ocean's waves go back and forth, the seagulls loudly bickering among each other, the hermit crabs slowly waddling across the sand. A group of kids were playing volleyball not far from them, and she nibbled thoughtfully on a green gummi, poking Hina's back with her toes. "Remember how bad I was at volleyball?" she asked in a low tone.

Hina scrunched up her face. "What? No. I always thought you were pretty good."

"If by 'pretty good' you mean always having the ball smack your face, you're spot-on. You've always been the athletic one."

"Yeah, but I always had fun with you." Hina rested her chin on her fist and also ate a green gummi. "Whenever the coach benched you at school, you'd always be the loudest to cheer me on. And then whenever we went here, I'd always be the loudest to cheer you on. And then we'd pet dogs."

"And then we pet dogs," Sayo repeated, smiling. "We've come so far as people these past couple of years, eh? Looks like I'll have to work harder at being the cooler and better sister?"

"Eh, what was that?"

"Nothing. Hina….would you give me a ride on your back?"

Hina was bewildered. "Sis, are you okay? Are we thinking too hard?"

It was the perfect time to get back into character. Sayo crossed her arms and flipped her braid back, glaring at the younger twin through her sunglasses. "It's only fair. You have got to stop hanging out with your freeloading friends who get everything handed to them. We're supposed to come from a hardworking family."

"Okay, okay. Honestly, if either of us act like a princess, it's gotta be you. Hop on."

Hina crouched from her position and giggled as Sayo wrapped her arms around her sister's neck, squeezing it tightly. She gently placed her chin on Hina's shoulder and grinned, sticking out her tongue. If there was any place to act like this, it was here. "That's right, you peasant," she snarled, grinning even wider. "I am the princess twin and you will run across this beach as fast as you can."

"I dunno, Princess, I go pretty fast."

"Then go faster. You're not allowed to slack."

Their faces matched in joy as Hina squeezed her legs tightly and ran forward at a lightning speed, letting out a roar of laughter. Sayo's eyes peeked out from her sunglasses just a bit to see everyone stare at them. It was probably pretty embarrassing in hindsight, but at the moment she felt like any other teenager, and her tone of voice matched Hina's as she yelled, "Faster, faster!" with no regard for her band or her bandmates.

Sometimes letting loose _did_ have its perks, after all.


End file.
